"Selling Out"

Hey guys, it's Mike again. I just wanted to talk really quick about the term "Selling Out," a term that used WAY too much in the music scene today. It seems like whenever a band changes their sound or goes in a new direction musically or lyrically, they're "selling out". That term (at least to me) means writng songs with one goal in mind: To make money. It's not changing your sound to pop, or metal, or whatever else, it's just to make money. Writing songs to make money destroys the art of music, and that to me is the worst possible thing bands could do these days. In a world with little or no art, bands need to make a stand and save the art that everyone fell in love with. That being said, we can't say that so many bands ARE actually selling out. When you think of bands that have sold out, you think of Fall Out Boy, right? Well I want to say, they are NOT sell outs. Yes, their sound has changed over the years, their band image has definitely changed, but those guys are not writing songs just for the fame. Go listen to their newest record, ESPECIALLY the lyrics, then come and tell me they sold. Hell, people are calling some bands sell outs that are the farthest thing from sell outs! Take Coheed and Cambria, for example. Their latest two singles have gotten so much heat from the fans about "selling out". I can guarantee you, those songs aren't gonna land them billions of dollars and a couple tours with Kanye. So before you call another band "sell outs," look again, and see if the band is acutally a sell out or they've just brought a different type of art to the table. I love you all.

-Michael Howell